City council sets elections, seeks bids for banking
The Friona city council met in regular session Monday February 11, 2013 in council chambers at 619 Main St. All members were present, Mayor J.B. Douglas presided. No members of the public were present to speak.
The council approved orders calling for city officers election and an order calling for city special officers election and approved a resolution authorizing a joint election agreement with the Friona ISD. On May 11 voting for city council and school board will both be held at the city council chambers.
There will be three city council seats and the mayor’s seat up for election. Terms expiring are Jim Atwell, Mark Osborn, and Charlie Pope. The special officers election is for the seat of Mayor Douglas to fill his unexpired term. He will be resigning and moving to Amarillo around April 1.
Terms of Ricky Barnett and Loraine Anthony are expiring on the school board. Early voting for both city council and school board will be April 29 to May 7. As of this week, Rick White and Ross Paiz have filed for mayor and Charlie Pope has filed for re-election. Victor Guerrero has filed for the school board.
Friona Police Chief Frank Mooney gave a racial profiling report, advised the council of efforts to obtain a grant to hire a full-time school resource officer in conjunction with the school district. The officer would be full time on campuses of the Friona ISD to liaison with teachers, staff, and students. Chief Mooney also said the new police cars will be white with red lettering. A resolution was also approved allowing Friona police officers to live within a 20 minute response area of Friona. Mooney said hiring new officers was difficult due to the housing situation in Friona, specifically rental houses.
The police department now has a Facebook page. They will be posting pertinent information about department activity. You can ‘like’ the page at Friona Police Department. The fire department also has a Facebook page at Friona Volunteer Fire Department.
The council voted to pay a $250 fee to join a group of cities opposed to Xcel Energy rate increase and lowering franchise fee payments. Another vote okayed a payment from the Economic Development Corporation of $14,936 for installation of the playground equipment at Reeve Lake. The amount will be reimbursed by the Amarillo Area Foundation in April.
A bid is being let (see bidder notice in this Friona Star) for banking services for the city. It will be a 3-year agreement. The council approved accounts payable and the January financial statement before adjourning to executive session at 6:59 p.m. Discussion at the executive session centered on options for economic development opportunities including purchase and/or sale of real property. Present were city council members, city manager, Economic Development board members, and the city attorney. The discussion was related to the potential influx of Cargill employees after the Plainview Cargill plant was closed.
The council returned to open session and adjourned with no further action taken. The next meeting of the city council will be Monday March 11 at 6:30 p.m. All council meetings are open to the public.
